Video maker loses pet in break-in

Among stolen items: Original Gangsta tapes

August 16, 2007|By Jerome Burdi Staff Writer and Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.

West Palm Beach — The thing that hurts the most is that Uggy's missing.

Raymond "Raylo" Hartley says the burglars who broke into his apartment Tuesday night took his 3-year-old Shih Tzu.

Hartley is known by local police for producing his Gangstas & Thugs series of videos throughout Palm Beach County. He's also known for showing up at police news conferences about the Gangstas series to justify the films, which show scenes of violence and gun flaunting.

Hartley lives in Lake Worth. The apartment he keeps in southeastern West Palm Beach, where he has his music studio, is tucked away on what Hartley described as a quiet block. He believes the break-in was committed by someone he knew.

His apartment was in shambles on Wednesday. A picture of Al Pacino in Scarface hung on the wall. A picture of Tupac Shakur was torn into for the fake hundred dollar bills below the rapper. They look real.

Hartley said he understands why someone stole his 18 pairs of sneakers. He understands why they took his safe, with the original tapes from Hartley's four films, which he said will be produced nationally. They stole his PlayStation2 and money.

But why Uggy?

"I didn't want to call the police," he said. "I knew they weren't going to help me."

He called a police officer he trusts to file the report. Hartley has a criminal history and was on probation in 2000 for improper exhibit of a dangerous weapon, state records show.

Hartley produced a photo of his 15-pound, black-and-white Shih Tzu curled up in a ball on the couch, staring up at the camera. In another photo, Uggy rolls around with Hartley's cat, Monkey.

Uggy's sweet image clashes with Hartley's gold-teeth grimace and the Dem Damn Dogs Rottweiler logo on his business cards.

"All I really want is the dog back," Hartley said. "All it knows is me."

Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report. Jerome Burdi